Irina Vlah, leader of the Republican Party “Heart of Moldova,” has warned that the country’s public finances are deteriorating, accusing the authorities of failing to adequately address the growing public debt and budget deficit.

According to Vlah, Moldova’s public debt has already exceeded 149 billion lei, while the government is borrowing an additional 3–5 billion lei every month. If the current pace continues, she estimates that public debt could surpass 160 billion lei by the end of the year.

“This will be more than the total value of state assets managed by the Government, estimated at around 157 billion lei,” Vlah said.

The opposition politician also pointed out that Moldova is expected to pay 6.3 billion lei in interest on previously contracted loans in 2026 alone.

Vlah referred to data for July, saying that domestic public debt increased by 400 million lei in a single month. During the same period, the government issued 2.9 billion lei worth of government securities while repaying 2.5 billion lei in previously issued securities.

As for external debt, Vlah said Moldova attracted new loans worth 160 million lei in July, while 230 million lei was used to repay existing debt.

The leader of the “Heart of Moldova” party also criticized the increase in the budget deficit. According to her, the Ministry of Finance has approved an increase in the deficit to 23.7 billion lei this year, almost 3 billion lei above the previous level.

For comparison, Vlah noted that in 2021, when the PAS party came to power, Moldova’s budget deficit stood at 4.73 billion lei.

Vlah argued that increasing the tax burden will not solve the country’s financial problems. She said the government expects to collect more than 5 billion lei in additional revenues next year through changes to tax policy, but argued that this would not even be enough to cover the cost of servicing the public debt.

As alternatives, Vlah proposed bringing the budgets of central government institutions back to 2021 levels, which she estimates could reduce spending by around 7 billion lei. She also called for reducing the size of ministries’ staff, imposing a moratorium on new borrowing, and negotiating with development partners to revise the repayment schedule for external debt.

“Only this way can the situation be brought back under control. Only this way can Moldova still be saved,” Irina Vlah said.